page_title: The Americans
section_title: Season 2
hierarchical_section_title: The Americans / Reception / Critical response / Season 2
caption_attribution_description: English: Writer Joel Fields accepts The Americans' Peabody with Costa Ronin, Lev Gorn, Richard Thomas and Mary Ray Thewlis. Cipriani Wall Street
context_page_description: The Americans is an American period spy thriller television series created by Joe Weisberg for the FX television network. Set during the Cold War, it follows the story of Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, two Soviet KGB intelligence officers posing as an American married couple living in Falls Church, a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. with their children, Paige and Henry. The show also explores the conflict between Washington's FBI office and the KGB Rezidentura by following the perspectives of agents on both sides, including the Jennings' neighbor Stan Beeman, an FBI agent working in counterintelligence. The series begins in the aftermath of the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan in January 1981 and concludes in December 1987, shortly before the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
  The Americans premiered in the United States on January 30, 2013, and concluded on May 30, 2018, after six seasons. The series was acclaimed by critics, who considered it among the best of its era; its writing, characters, and acting were often singled out.
context_section_description: The second season received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a 97 percent approval rating with an average score of 8.83 out of 10 based on 38 reviews, with a critics consensus of: "Adding fuel to the fire, The Americans retains all the suspense and action of season one while enhancing the level of excitement... and wigs." Metacritic scored the show an 88 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Several entities have rated the show among the best television for 2014, including the American Film Institute, The A.V. Club, and Grantland.
  Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter called the series "one of television's finest dramas" and praised the ability of the writers in "nailing down season two ... by picking up where the story left off and making sure that this spy-vs.-spy thing has real-life costs." Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette praised the series for doing "the near-impossible of making viewers cheer for Russian spies in America and at the same time for the American FBI agents who are trying to unmask those Russians living in suburbia." Alan Sepinwall of HitFix praised the second season, stating how the show has, "taken a major creative leap—the kind that can elevate a show from a strong example of its era to one that transcends eras."
  Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times did not approve of its portrayal of the children, expressing concern for how viewers are expected to accept the dangerous situations the children are placed in while the show continues to use crime and violence to advance the story in The Americans and other like-minded shows. The New York Daily News questioned its survivability: "Credibility starts to fray when our heroes, or anti-heroes, keep needing miraculous last-second evasions and escapes." Eric Goldman of IGN felt that the murder of another undercover couple "gave the season an underlying mystery element" and served as "the theme of protecting your children from the spy world".
caption: Members of the cast and crew at the 74th Annual Peabody Awards
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